Latest California Healthline Stories
Online Fraud Experts Raise Concerns Over Online Health Schemes
As the use of electronic medical record keeping grows, investigators are anticipating an increase in fraudulent online health care schemes, the Nashua Telegraph reports.
KPC Seeks Bankruptcy Protection After Closing Clinics
KPC Medical Management closed its 38 Southern California medical offices yesterday, the Orange County Register reports.
Orange County Supervisors Skirt Tobacco Fund Plans
The Orange County Board of Supervisors on Monday voted to reconsider how to spend this year’s portion of the county’s tobacco settlement, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Searching for Truth Behind the Smoke of Medical Marijuana
Researchers are looking to settle the debate over medical marijuana and prove “once and for all” whether the drug “really is good medicine,” AP/CNN.com reports.
HCFA Unveils Online Drug Assistance Program Directory
HCFA on Nov. 15 unveiled several new features on its Medicare Web site, http://www.medicare.gov, including a page with information on how to apply for drug assistance through drug companies, states, community-based programs and disease-specific programs.
White House to Issue New Medical Privacy Protections
The Clinton administration is expected to release “sweeping new rules” aimed at protecting the privacy of medical records within the next few weeks, although the regulations will not give patients a “broad new right to sue” HMOs and medical providers for breaches of privacy, the New York Times reports.
OHSA, Business Spar Over Cost of Ergonomics Regulations
OSHA’s new ergonomic regulations may cause a “big fight” that pits the federal agency and labor unions against corporate America, the New York Times reports.
St. Joseph, PacifiCare Set Termination Dates
Nearly 20,000 seniors enrolled in PacifiCare’s Secure Horizons will lose access to St. Joseph Health System’s physicians on March 31, 2001, the Orange County Register reports.
CareScience Develops Clinical Information Network With Los Alamos Lab
CareScience Inc. is partnering with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to develop a “peer-to-peer” computing system that will allow health care organizations in Santa Barbara County to share clinical patient information.
Indian Medical Association Proposes Free Clinic in Santa Ana
The 600-member Indian Medical Association of Southern California, part of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, is proposing to open a free medical clinic at Santa Ana’s Sikh Center, the Los Angeles Times reports.